New "Garden" Mural in Cedar Rapids, IA

 My partner, Brad, and I had the great pleasure of painting a large, outdoor mural for The Arc of East Central Iowa in Cedar Rapids. Our mural was generously funded by David Meier, Murals & More, The Arc, and the City of Cedar Rapids.

Canadian wildfires made for some smokey but beautiful sunrises at the mural site. This was taken from the top of the parking ramp across the street. I painted from dawn to noon and then again in the evenings because daytime temps were in the 90s.

It's really BIG! On the upper right you can see me overcoming my fears at the very top of the boom lift.

Up on the lift painting the rabbit ears

A view from way up high- Brad painting on the ground

The long part of the mural is on the street side and a big red bird wraps around the front/parking lot side of the building

Viewed from the parking lot across the street the wrap-around corner of the mural looks flat- exactly as I hoped it would turn out!

The squirrel is my favorite part.

A cat, of course.

There are 10 critters to discover...here's a yellow bird.

Lots of colors and shapes

I outlined the shapes and Brad followed behind me to fill them in with rollers.

Painting the highest part - a bird at the top. Real life birds nesting on the roof were annoyed with me invading their space.

The rabbit is about 14' tall!

My original concept and color proposals. I made the design, got it approved, and was in CR to start within just a few days. This came together QUICKLY! #RoadTrip!

A lot of passers-by asked if I free-handed the design. 

Nooooope- I projected my design on the wall and traced it with chalk the night before we started painting.

Early evening projection

Brad painting on Day 2.

A wild rainstorm came along and washed away the chalk so we had to re-project the next night. Ugh.

So hot outside. In the evenings the wall and sidewalk were radiating heat.

That's a wrap. I am so ready to do this again.

(I'm posting more pics and process videos over on my Instagram)

WHO NEEDS A MURAL?

Learn more about how this works and check all of my previous murals over here on my website.

Get at me! JenniferDavisArt@gmail.com